Roman Catholic Womenpriests : "The Question Never Asked of a Nun"

The Question Never Asked of a Nun

The Question never asked of a Nun

while

Feeding a Homeless Person,

Caring for a Rape Victim,

Visiting a Prisoner,

Nursing a Sick Person,

Teaching a Child,

Consoling a Griever,

Keeping a Parish Alive,

Counseling One Confused,

Driving an Elderly to Shopping,

Clothing a Destitute,

Attending a Special Needs Person,

Helping Heal a Busted Relationship,

Comforting One Dying, and

Being Christ to All,

is

Are you approved by the Vatican?

Love, John Chuchman

(with permission)

Roman Catholic Womenpriests : "Women Fight To Be Priests in Catholic Church

Women Fight to be priests in Catholic Church
Tampa Bay Deism Examiner
by Bob Johnson

Interview with Bridget Mary Meehan

http://www.examiner.com/x-23325-Tampa-Deism-Examiner~y2009m10d9-Women-fight-to-be-priests-in-Catholic-Church

Roman Catholic Womenpriests : "Cross Examination: Why is Rome Investigating U.S. Nuns?" Commonweal

Commonweal

"Cross Examination:

Why Is Rome Investigating U.S. Nuns?"

by Sister X

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2658


"I thought about cemeteries like this all over the United States, and the many thousands of nuns who faithfully served the church for a lifetime, building up its schools and hospitals. They kept their vows. They didn’t cost the church $2 billion in legal settlements. Their gravestones don’t memorialize ecclesial appointments, ministerial accomplishments, educational degrees, or elected congregational positions."

My response:
I highly recommend this article. Sister X writes a moving testimony to the faithfulness and devotion of women religious in the United States. This outstanding essay raises the question why the Vatican is not investigating the bishops who covered up the pedophile scandal that has cost the church 2 billion dollars?Why is the Vatican harassing the nuns who have given their lives to the service of the people of God? These women do not deserve the Vatican's modern -day inquisition, they deserve the support, both moral, spiritual and financial of every Catholic in our country. In my view, every Catholic should get involved because "we are the church", not just the hierarchy. It is our duty to respond to this grave injustice.

Ask yourself, what can you do to help the Sisters? Here are a few ideas.

1.Write to the Apostolic Nuncio in the United States to express outrage at this injustice. Ask for a list of the names of those who are funding this study.
2. Send letters of support and donations to the Retirement fund for Women religious in the United States.
3. Write to the LCWR. Ask how you can help religious orders in financial need.
4. Adopt a religious order in gratitude. for your education as an attempt to give back to the nuns who have given so much to our church.
5. Offer to support religious orders who decide to go non-canonical and become independent of the hierarchy. This would encourage orders who have women who are called to priesthood. Can you imagine the witness that nuns who have been doing the work of priests for decades? Your community could call them forth publically and support them as your priests!

Your ideas........

Roman Catholic Womenpriests : "What is the Vatican, exactly?" by Frances Kissling in salon.com

What is the Vatican, exactly?

The pope's UN rep swats away questions about sexual abuse -- and raises questions about the church's special status

By Frances Kissling

Oct. 7, 2009 | "There’s little doubt that the 2002 sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church brought out the worst in official and some unofficial Catholic circles. Coverups and unconvincing explanations about why pedophile priests were routinely transferred to new parishes where they could continue to abuse children were the order of the day."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/07/vatican/

Roman Catholic Womenpriests : "Dropping Down the Well"

Eileen Knoff

Dropping Down the Well
by Eileen Knoff


The Irish countryside abounds with wells—strange and mysterious spaces that entice me to bend over and explore those darker depths I normally avoid.

The symbol of the well came to me in considering the question I put forth to this group at the end of last month’s sequence: What surprises of this past year am I now harvesting in my life? The primary surprise I encountered while reflecting on my past year was the presence of a strange attractor drawing me downward and inward, as if into a well of strength and grace flowing underneath my daily current events. Despite countless ministerial and social commitments, deadlines, trips, house repairs, visits to doctors and dentists, there was yet a gentle force tugging me toward a deeper flow with its Wisdom of letting go.

The pull first presented itself in January with the death of a pastoral colleague, Kate O’Sullivan. An Episcopal chaplain, Kate was a great believer in a mysterious, graceful presence at work in all circumstances. Kate naturally carried that presence to others, especially her patients at Children’s Hospital. I experienced Kate’s belief expand and intensify just before her learning that she had developed pancreatic cancer.

The cancer claimed her life within a few months. The Episcopal cathedral in Seattle was packed for her funeral with people from all faith traditions. As I read the order of service, I discovered that both Kate and I had been born in 1955. I was struck with the awareness that this could have been me lying there. Instead, I remained here, wondering how to become the kind of presence Kate had been.

Nine months before her death, Kate had noticed my interest in Celtic spirituality and urged me to share its insights with a committee she was chairing on the environment.20While preparing my talk, I heard an interior call to allow the Earth itself to become an Anam Cara. I heeded what I heard and shared that message with the group. They responded eagerly!

Since then, I have tried to live into this relationship by letting Nature reveal to me the beauty of “God’s original gospel,” with its cycles of light and dark, life and death. The more I pay attention to the Wisdom in the Earth the more I am able to drop down into the heart of my life and the challenges within its changing seasons, its daily deaths.

Kate’s death was my first important letting go this year. It was not the last. A dear aunt died, older siblings have struggled with serious illnesses, a daughter moved away, and I have had to make difficult decisions that pleased some and displeased others. The year’s transitions have called me to grow into new stages of trust in my own experiences and generosity with the gifts I still do have to share.

I see now that the grace of Divine Life has been present within each transition and always will be. I need only to risk following the lure of Love, who urges me to bend low and scoop into empty hands the Life-Giving Water that waits patiently in the well of my own soul.

by Eileen Knoff, copyright 2009. Reprinted with permission. First printed as part of Brigid's Circle; see www.spiritualdirections.net to subscribe.

Photo of Eileen Knoff was taken by Barbie Hull, Photography (www.barbiehull.com)